The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A mesh network is a network of nodes that each maintains logical route connections to nearby nodes. Mesh nodes are sometimes referred to herein as mesh points or MPs. The connection from one mesh node to another node that is not a neighboring node is accomplished by linking consecutively adjacent nodes to the destination node according to a route. In this manner, mesh nodes working together in a mesh network enable communications over potentially large physical areas. Mesh networks were developed to improve system reliability by offering improved redundancy in system networks. If one mesh node fails, the rest of the nodes in the mesh network are able to communicate with each other via alternative routes. Mesh nodes may use a protocol that enables each node to reconfigure itself with updated route information that the node stores in its own routing table. Connections between mesh nodes may be wired or wireless, though generally the connections are wireless. Mesh networks allow for an extensible and flexible network architecture that may be used in offices, educational institutions, areas of public access, residential areas, public safety systems, military systems, etc.
A mesh network may be made entirely of mesh nodes that only adhere to mesh protocols. On the other hand, mesh networks may include an entry or access node to a different network, such as the Internet, a private local area network (LAN), etc. so that other protocols may also be integrated into the mesh network. An example of a developed mesh protocol is the Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP) set forth in the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11s draft standard.